There seem to be a lot more young developers than old developers. But, why? I can only assume that either, the number of developers is increasing (more and more young people entering the work force), or a lot of people stop being software engineers after 8 years. People usually work between the ages 22 and 65, so given a even distribution, if the industry isn't growing by leaps and bounds, the average work experience should eventually be about 20 years with an average age of 42.